Wisconsin woman, 84, battles photo ID law

By BILL GLAUBER, McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

December 15, 2011

Photo: Dan Young

DAN YOUNG : WAUSAU DAILY HERALD
LONGTIME VOTER: Ruthelle Frank can easily prove that she is who she claims to be, but the documents weren't good enough to get her a state identification card in Wisconsin.

DAN YOUNG : WAUSAU DAILY HERALD
LONGTIME VOTER: Ruthelle Frank can...

BROKAW, Wis. - The biggest opponent of the state's new voter ID law may be an 84-year-old woman who's less than 5 feet tall, has lived in one house nearly her entire life and has served on her village board since 1996.

Ruthelle Frank doesn't have a driver's license, doesn't have a birth certificate and hasn't been able to get a state identification card, which means she could be out of luck the next time she tries to vote.

"The whole thing upsets me," Frank said Wednesday. "You could live in the U.S. of A., live in the same house all these years and you don't have the right to vote."

Frank is a plaintiff in the lawsuit filed Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union against the state over the new law that requires voters to show government-issued photo identification.

Translator

To read this article in one of Houston's most-spoken languages, click on the button below.

The ACLU argues that the measure violates the U.S. Constitution. Republican lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker have expressed confidence the law will stand up to court challenge.

Frank takes the right to vote very seriously.

She said she started voting in 1948 and has rarely missed a chance to cast a ballot since.

Got angry, went public

For years, Frank said, she didn't even have to say her name to get a ballot.

"Everybody knows everybody around here," she said.

Frank said she tried to get a state identification card last month at a Division of Motor Vehicles office, but was rebuffed when she couldn't produce a birth certificate. She did have a notarized baptism certificate, as well as a Social Security card, Medicare statement and a checkbook.

"I was about in tears," she said.

But she didn't cry. She got angry. And she called her local newspaper, the Wausau Daily Herald, which told her story.

According to the newspaper, a record of Frank's birth does exist with the state register of deeds in Madison, Wis. She could get a birth certificate for a $20 fee. But Frank said that fee amounts to a poll tax.

There's another problem. Frank's maiden name of Wedepohl was misspelled by the physician who attended her home birth. To get the birth certificate amended, she could petition the court, a process that could take several weeks and cost at least $200, the newspaper said.

Within hours of her story going public, Frank said she was contacted by the ACLU.

There are two suits pending against the voter ID law, one filed by the ACLU and another by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin. A third lawsuit is expected to be announced Friday by Voces de la Frontera and the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP.

Meanwhile, Frank is at the center of a media squall. Her story has gone national, via the Internet and television. A few relatives from out of state have called to find out what all the fuss is about.

Two of her children, Rochelle, 50, and Randy, 48, listen to her talk and try to boost her spirits. So does her husband, Henry, 85. They've been married for 58 years.

No stranger to strife

Frank is accustomed to a fight.

"I was born paralyzed on my whole left side, and I came out head first with a big scar at the top of my head," Frank said.

"My dad pushed me to be what I am," she added, recalling how her father, Elmer, tied her right hand to her body so that she would learn to use her left hand.

After graduating from high school, she worked eight years at the local paper mill. She also learned to sew, cook and dig in the garden.

"I can do anything I want to do, but sometimes it takes me a little bit longer," Frank said.

Not claiming disability

And one thing she wants to do is vote in person.

"You can get an absentee ballot as long as you're indefinitely confined to a residence," she said. "But I don't want to do that. That's not truthful. I'm capable of walking."

Her children back her fight.

"She has made all of us tough," Frank's daughter said.

Frank joined the Village Board in 1996. She said she plows her modest salary right back into the community, for things like a swing set, flowers, a display for an old church bell and Christmas decorations.

"This is the best place in the world to live," she said.

Frank said she would like another term on the board and could be on the ballot next year.

But under the current situation, she said, "I won't be able to vote for myself."